


Building a Life

by Rivulet027



Category: Mighty Morphin Alien Rangers, Power Rangers Turbo
Genre: F/F, Robot Rangers, Team Dynamics, Team as Family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-28
Updated: 2015-09-28
Packaged: 2018-04-23 18:44:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,109
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4887778
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rivulet027/pseuds/Rivulet027
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the Robot Rangers return to Eltar they are sent away for training and then on missions. Then Zordon goes missing...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Building a Life

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Angel_Negra](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Angel_Negra/gifts).



> Disclaimer: I own nothing to do with Power Rangers. It's not my toy box and I'm merely playing.
> 
> A/N: There weren't seperate tags for the Robot Rangers hence I tagged them with their characters, but this fic uses the rangers that Zordon created that were sent to Earth for testing in Power Rangers Turbo "The Robot Ranger" as the main characters. Also this fic has pre iS Andros in it and touch on him having been alone for an extended period of time and that he's suffered a trauma.

The room is yellow. As relieved as Ashley is to be back on Eltar, as relieved as she is that it’s been determined that she and the other Robot Rangers don’t need to live in the lab anymore, she’s not sure she’d have chosen a room this yellow. She stands in the doorway and rubs her forehead. Now that she can have a life, now that she’s one of the Protectors of Eltar, what kind of life does she want for herself?

“It’s pretty awful,” Cassie comments as she approaches.

“The walls I get, maybe the bedding, but every piece of furniture and accessory?” Ashley groans.

“Zal thought it’d make us feel more at home.” Cassie shrugs.

“Zal? The guy with the blue hair? Zordon’s helper?” Ashley clarifies.

“Yeah,” Cassie smiles, then shrugs. “He tried. Carlos, TJ and I were just going to trade stuff around.”

“I’m so in,” Ashley agrees, then asks, “What about Justin?”

“He’s with Alpha 5 and Zordon. They’re working out how to age him up gradually. Carlos agreed to redecorate for him.”

Ashley nods. “That’s good. I couldn’t imagine being thirteen for the rest of my life.”

Cassie shudders. 

Ashley frowns at her room again, “If we’re leaving in a few days for Aquitar, why give us rooms at all?”

“So we have a home? A place to come back to?” Cassie suggests.

“We don’t need to sleep,” Ashley points out, “and yet that’s a really nice looking bed.”

“Really?” Cassie challenges, raising her eyebrows.

“Yeah?” Ashley frowns as she stares at the bed.

Cassie crosses hear arms, face going faux innocent as she reminds, “Beds aren’t just for sleeping.”

“Oh? Oh! I hadn’t thought about that.”

Cassie smirks, “Wanna try it out?”

Ashley laughs.

Cassie pouts.

Ashley stills. “You’re serious?”

“TJ and Carlos already tried TJ’s bed,” Cassie grins as she wiggles her eyebrows.

Ashley opens her mouth, barely manages to squeak out a sound, and then closes her mouth.

“You took extra time looking at names, deciding if you still wanted to be called Ashley.”

“I decided to stick with Ashley,” she manages.

“Good,” Cassie smiles, “I like Ashley. It suits you.”

Ashley grins as she wraps her arm around Cassie’s arm, “Good. Can I have time to think about us trying out the bed thing?”

Cassie smiles, “Of course. Let’s go see about redecorating rooms.”

“Let’s.” 

~~~~~*****~~~~~*****~~~~~

Ashley leans back in the chair, she need to recharge. Her last sparring session with Billy had worn her out. She puffed a breath at her hair and holds out her arm as Cestro plugs her in and begins scanning her at the same time.

“Zordon specifically stated that we were to send them back to Eltar for further diagnostics before they were assigned a mission,” Delphine’s voice is commanding, demanding no arguments. Ashley tilts her head, leans the chair back just enough that she can see the viewscreen Delphine is addressing.

Zal frowns at Delphine from the screen. “There isn’t time. Zordon wants them to go to Alandria. Reports of attacks have been coming in, a ranger team is needed.”

“Do we know who’s behind the attacks?”

“That has yet to be determined.”

“What is the nature of the attacks?” Delphine demands, her eyes narrowing.

“Monstrous creatures. One of them grew to an enormous height.”

“Then my team should go,” Delphine decides.

“We finished their zords and have already sent them. They’ll be there when the team arrives,” Zal reassures.

“I would speak with Zordon,” Delphine tells him.

“He is in the middle of a conference.”

“Then I’ll speak with Alpha 5.”

“He’s assisting Zordon with the conference. Unfortunately I’m the only one available and Zordon gave me their orders.” Zal smirks.

Delphine tilts her head. “You do not give rangers orders. You may mentor. You may suggest. You may even teach, but don’t order.”

“They are needed,” Zal counters, “Would you deny the people of Alandria protection? Aquitar has been a target of Dark Spectre as of late, hence your team is not available. The Protectors of Eltar were made on Eltar, tested on Earth, trained with Zordon, and then sent to you for additional training. Are you suggesting they are flawed or merely unprepared?”

“They are prepared,” Delphine’s voice is cold, “They will be sent.”

She ends the connection and turns to Ashley, “Call your team.”

Ashley nods, calling her team while she watches Delphine talk furiously in a hushed tone to Aurico. It doesn’t take the two teams long to meet. As they begin to arrive Ashley asks Cestro, “Are you done running my diagnostic?”

“Yes.” Cestro says as he begins to unhook her. “I suspect I should get another set done on one of your teammates before you’re sent away.”

“Justin!” Ashley decides as she gets up.

Justin comes over and settles in the chair holding out his arm. “Do we know what’s going on yet?”

“Our first mission, I think. There’s something off about it though.”

“A mission! Cool! What’s off?”

“I don’t know.” Ashley shrugs.

“You nervous?” Justin asks.

“I am,” she admits.

“Me too. I wish we had the other Turbo rangers with us.”

Ashley smiles at the thought, “Two sets of the same rangers might confuse the bad guys.”

Justin smiles then enthuses, “I got to go over how two sets of the same morphers were made with Billy and Cestro.”

“It was an interesting process,” Cestro agrees.

“That had to be cool.” Ashley smiles.

“Way cool,” Justin answers, then turns as T.J. approaches them.

“Delphine and Corcus are going to come with us,” T.J. informs them.

“Good.” Ashley smiles.

~~~~~*****~~~~~*****~~~~~~

Alandria is easy. A transport ship got lost and crashed. They find no evidence of monsters or attacks. The crew of the ship is already being treated by the time they arrive. They help recover any cargo they can, reload it onto a new transport, and then clean up the mess. When they’re done Delphine and Corcus go back to Aquitar. Zal sends them to Andresia next, there is flooding in their Southern Continent and they need help with clean up.

Ashley drops down on the bed next to Cassie and groans, “I’ve seen too much water for my circuits to feel safe.”

Cassie runs a hand through her hair. “We lived on Aquitar for over a month.”

“That was scary.

Cassie laughs as Ashley snuggles in close. “I was more focused on the training.”

“I was always at least partly aware that we were under water.” Ashley shudders.

“We have protective equipment and we’ve been mostly regulated to dryer tasks,” Cassie reasons as she runs her hand through Ashley’s hair again.

“Can we stay like this awhile?”

“We should,” Cassie decides, “I like this.”

After Andresia they are sent to Siruis to train at S.P.D. for several weeks. On their second night there, as they’re heading back to their shared quarters Cassie reaches out and slips her hand in Ashley’s. Ashley squeezes and they keep walking. 

When the door to their room closes behind them Cassie asks, “Can I kiss you?”

Ashley pulls her close. Their lips brush, shyly at first and then more firmly. Ashley starts to smile into the kiss when a knock on the door startles them. Cassie sighs, turns, and opens the door, “Carlos? What’s wrong?”

Carlos stands there looking at them with wide eyes.

“Carlos?” Ashley prompts.

Carlos’ mouth works, takes a moment to form the words. “T.J. said to get you. We have to get back to Eltar.”

“Now?” Cassie snorts, “I thought Zal had a whole plot and a plan to never let us see Eltar again.”

Carlos makes a distressed noise.

“What happened?” Cassie prods.

Carlos wets his lips.

Ashley pulls him into the room and makes him sit down. “Slowly. Find the words.”

“We could call T.J.” Cassie suggests.

“Zordon’s gone.”

“What?” Ashley shakes her head. “Gone?”

“They’re saying he was kidnapped on Dark Spectre’s behalf,” Carlos explains.

Ashley sits down heavily on the bed next to Carlos. “Dark Spectre has Zordon?”

“And we were here?” Cassie growls, “We’ve been everywhere but Eltar!”

“I’m scared to ask, Zal?” Ashley manages.

“We don’t know.” 

“How do we not know?” Ashley shakes her head slowly.

“He’s been keeping us from Eltar this whole time. Maybe so we couldn’t be there to protect Zordon and Alpha 5,” Cassie says as she sits down. Ashley wraps an arm around her.

“We barely know anything,” T.J. says from the doorway. “We need to get back to Eltar now so we can decide what direction to take in getting Zordon and Alpha 5 back. There’s no word on Zal, for all we know he died protecting them.”

“I’ll believe that when I see it.” Cassie snorts.

“I agree it’s suspicious,” T.J. tempers, “but I’m holding off judgement until we know.”

“Agreed,” Ashley puts in as she goes to the closet to pull out a suitcase and begin packing their things.

“I’m sorry,” T.J. says behind her. She turns in time to see T.J. tug Carlos into standing and then pull him into a hug.

“Someone had to tell them, you and Justin were arranging transport,” Carlos reasons before tucking his face against T.J.’s shoulder.

~~~~~*****~~~~~*****~~~~~

Zal greets them as soon as they arrive on Eltar. He looks haggard. His medium length blue curls are askew. His clothes are torn in places and he has several data pads in his hands that he keeps working between.

“Do we know what happened?” T.J. inquires.

“We were attacked!” Zal shouts throwing his hands in the air and nearly losing a data pad, “I’m trying to locate where they took Zordon and Alpha 5. We have to form a rescue!”

The five of them exchange glances, trying to decide if they should trust Zal or not. T.J. steps forward and places a comforting hand on Zal’s shoulder, “We’ll figure this out. Let’s go inside and see what you’ve uncovered.”

Zal nods and runs a hand through his hair, before he takes a deep breath and leads them inside.

“Do we know who took them?” Cassie inquires.

“Dark Spectre.” Zal turns to frown at her. “I thought the answer obvious.”

Cassie shakes her head. “No, which of his henchmen?”

Zal doesn’t answer her, instead going to a consul, frowning at it. 

“Zal,” Carlos tries, “We can’t find them if we don’t know who took them.”

Zal turns to regard them, his back to the consul as he watches them. Ashley lets out a distressed noise as she realizes she can’t move.

“We never did deactivate your off button. Don’t struggle, this will only take a few moments,” Zal advises as he stands and starts to smooth out his hair.

“You!” Cassie growls.

Zal smirks. “The Princess of Darkness asked for my assistance, was I supposed to say no?”

As the world begins to go black Ashley thinks she hears a shout, but the world is dimming and she’s scared, she can’t be sure.

~~~~~******~~~~~~******~~~~~~

Ashley wakes up with her head resting on a comfortable red pillow as she slowly takes in pink curtains. Cassie’s voice greets her, “Take your time. We’re safe.”

“How?” Ashley manages as she takes note that her room hasn’t changed since she last left it. The curtains are pink, the walls are yellow, the pillows are red, and the bedspread is green. Her favorite chair is blue. She groans and buries her face in her pillow. She hates waking up after a shut down. She sits up with a gasp, “Zal!”

“Justin handled him,” Cassie reassures as she sits on the bed. “He’d gotten Billy and Cestro to remove the shut-down program. They never got to us because we were sent off Aquitar before scheduled.”

“And we were originally supposed to go to Eltar first. Zordon wanted to run another full diagnostic.” Ashley sighs as she wraps her arms around Cassie.

Cassie kisses her temple.

“We’re safe?”

“Yes, Justin called for help after he tied Zal up.”

“Delphine?” Ashley guesses.

“Her team’s on their way. The Red Astro ranger showed up,” Cassie informs her.

Ashley frowns. “I thought no one had heard from him in over a year?”

Cassie shrugs. “He hasn’t demorphed. He helped lock up Zal, get everyone that was taking longer to wake up into bed, and make sure Delphine’s team was on the way.”

“I took awhile?” Ashley winces.

“Carlos is still asleep last time I checked,” Cassie reassures, “T.J. is trying to pretend he isn’t worried.”

“Has he left already, Astro Red?”

“He’s getting ready to,” Cassie answers.

“Right now?” Ashley frowns.

“He was readying his ship when I came to check up on you.”

Ashley yawns and runs a hand over her face before she forces herself to get out of bed.

“We weren’t able to convince him to stay,” Cassie frowns, “Do you want help?”

Ashley leans in, gives Cassie a firm kiss, before pulling back and telling her, “No. I have this.”

~~~~~*****~~~~~*****~~~~~

Ashley finds the Astro Megaship parked next to their transport vehicle. The Red Astro Ranger is scanning the hull of his ship.

“Guess you weren’t ready to leave,” she greets.

He turns towards her briefly, then goes back to what he’s doing.

“You could at least be polite and demorph.”

He puts the scanner away and turns towards her. “Did you need something?”

“A hello, maybe,” she prompts. “Should I morph? Is that how one…”

She trails off, realizing she was about to say something rude. He crosses his arms. “Want to finish that?”

She crosses her arms. “No. I want you to demorph and let us be good hosts until your friends arrive.”

“Friends?”

Ashley forces herself to stop crossing her arms. “We were on Aquitar for over a month. They worry about you. Now you’re here and they’re on their way, but you’re going to leave before they get here?”

“I’m going to find Zordon.”

“Which will go better if we coordinate multiple teams of rangers. You can’t do this by yourself.” Ashley protests.

“I’m going to find Zordon. I’m going to kill Astronema and then destroy Dark Spectre.”

“On your own? With no team? With no help?” Ashley shakes her head, moving forward slowly. “That’s…you can’t do all that by yourself. At least stay and hear what Delphine has to say.”

He drops his arms, but holds his shoulders stiffly. He’s still morphed.

“If you won’t stay,” Ashley scrambles, trying to come up with a solution, “then go to Earth.”

He doesn’t react, not even minutely. Maybe behind his helmet, but she can’t see.

“My team, we’re based on a team there. I’m sure they’d be willing to help. They’re probably still fighting Divatox, they might not be able to leave, but there are several other former rangers I’m sure would be willing to help you.” She reaches out slowly, in case he pulls away, and gives on of his gloved hands a squeeze. 

He grips her fingers tightly for a brief moment, before pulling away slowly and taking a step back.

“At least let us feed you. When was the last time you ate?” Ashley questions.

The morph falls away and the change in his posture is immediate. He’s hunched in on himself now, face hidden by a cascade of shoulder length hair as he stares down at his feet. His voice edges on quiet as he asks, “Where’s Earth?”

Ashley holds herself carefully still, so not to give into the urge to hug the red ranger, as she offers, “How about I tell you while we cook you some breakfast?”

“Cook?”

“Well, I wasn’t planning on synthesizing you anything, unless you want me to?”

He looks away from her a moment before he stated, “I can cook.”

“Good. I’m Ashley.”

“Andros.”

Ashley grins. “Let’s go find you some food.”

~~~~~*****~~~~~*****~~~~~

Ashley leans into Cassie’s side, smiling briefly as the arm Cassie has around her waist. She reaches down to squeezes Cassie’s fingers. Delphine, Aurico and Cestro are standing around the central consul with her, Cassie, TJ and Carlos. Andros is leaning back in a chair nearby, Tideus and Corcus bracket him. They were all keeping a close eye on Andros since he agreed to stay. He was slowly looking less stiff and engaging them in conversation instead of waiting for one of them to address him. Billy and Justin were at a work consul, tools spread between them as they worked on Billy’s morpher.

“If our sources are correct Zordon is being held here and will be transport here with in the day. Alpha 5 is on this planet, perhaps disassembled.” Delphine muses. “I’d hate to split us up, but Eltar and Aquitar still need to be protected as well. It would be beneficial to send a representative to Earth, see if any of the former rangers can help.”

“If we didn’t have to worry about our transmissions being intercepted, we’d probably already have some of them here.” Carlos shakes his head in frustration.

“We’re going to have to split up,” Andros speaks up. They all turn to look at him. He sits up slowly, hands gripping the chair tightly. “The only reason they haven’t attacked Aquitar is because your ruse, that you haven’t left, is still holding. If they figure it out…if Eltar is left without protectors…this is what they do. They take something or someone of significance and get you to give chase before going in and decimating your planet. By the time you get back you’re already waging a losing battle. They’ve done this more than once.”

Delphine approaches Andros slowly, “Will you head to Earth then? Will you warn the rangers?”

Andros nods.

“Hopefully by then our blues will have figured out how to give them morphers,” Delphine continues. “With that in mind, Cestro, Billy, and Justin, will you remains here?”

The three agree. 

“Aurico, Tideus and Carlos. Will you return head to Aquitar?”

After they agree, Delphine asks TJ to stay on Eltar with Billy, Cestro, and Justin, before she reasons, “This will allow Corcus and I to locate Zordon, while Cassie and Ashley find Alpha 5.”

~~~~~*****~~~~~*****~~~~~

Ashley checks the controls of their ship for the second time, before making sure that their course reflects their need to go undetected. She smiles as she hears Cassie approach and kisses Cassie’s cheek as Cassie wraps arms around her.

“We’re good on supplies,” Cassie informs her.

Ashley pulls her into a quick kiss and Cassie groans, “We’re never going to get to try out our beds.”

“Anticipation,” Ashley laughs before kissing Cassie on the nose. “Let’s go save Alpha.”

“Let’s.”


End file.
